The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 307

If tho clnUBes nro not simply pnmllel, and not high falls not low; " and, " A great tree the compBro.tive vo.lue of silver o.nd gold is attracts the wind." The Basque proverb to be considered, we may, with Wordsworth, remarks, "Pride sought flight in heaven, see hero nn intimation of the superiority of fell to hell.'' And an Eastern one, "What wisdom ( ahochmah) over intelligence (binah ), is extended will tear; what is long will the former being tlrn guide of life and break " (Lane). including the practice of religion, the latter Ver. 19.-This verse is connected in denoting discernment, the faculty of dis- thought, as well as verbally, with the pre- tinguishing between one thing and another ceding. Jletter it is to be of a!l humble (see note on eh. xxiii. 4, o.nd the quotation spirit with the lowly. The Revised Version from • Pirke Aboth' on ch.. xv. 33). The has, with the po<,r; but" meek" or" lowly" LXX., for kenoh reading kinnot, have given better contrasts with "proud" of the second e. ver,ion of which the Fathers have largely clause. Pa. lxxxiv. 10, "I had rather be availed themselves: "The nests of wisdom a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than nre preferable to gold, and the nests of to dwell in the tents of wickedness." Than knowledge are preferable above silver." to divide the spoil with the proud. To Some of the old commentators take these share in the fruits of the operations and "nests" to be the problems and apothegms pursuits of the proud, and to enjoy their which enshrine wisdom; others consider pleasures, a man must cast in bis lot with them to mean the children or scholars who them, undergo their risks and anxieties, and e.re taught by the wise man. participate in the crimes by which they Ver. 17.-The highway of the upright is go.in their wealth. The result of such asso- to depart from evil. To avoid the dangerous ciation was told in ver. 18. The Germans byways to which evil leads, one must walk express the connection Letween nbunda.nee straight in the path of duty (comp. eh. xv.19). and folly by the terse apothegm, ·• Voll, Septuagint, "The paths of life decline from toll;" "Full, fool." Septuagint, "Detter is evil;" und this version adds some paragraphs the man of gentle mind with lrnmility, than in illustmtion, which are not in the Hebrew: he who divideth spoil with the violent." "And the ways of righteousness are length Ver. 20.-B:e tha.t handleth a matter of life. He who receiveth instruction will wisely. Daba,·, translated "matter," i~ be nmong the good [or, 'in prosperity,' Iv better rendered "word," as in eh. xiii. 13, ci-ya.Boi,], and he who observeth reproof shall with wliich passage the present is in con- become wise." He that keepeth his way trast. Thus Revised Version, he /hut giveth preserveth his soul. He who continues in 1,eed unto the word. Shall find good; V ul- the l'ight way, and looks ca.refully to his gate, eruditus in verbo reperiet b01,a. The goings, will save himself from .ruin e.nd "Word" is the Law of Gou; he who atten<ls denth (eh. xiii. 3). Septuagint, "He who to this shall prosper. The rendering uf tl10 watcheth his own ways keepeth his life." Authorized Veroion is supported by t.l.io And then is added another maxim, "He Septuagint, "The man prudtnt iu affairs is that loveth his life will spare his mouth." a finder of good tbi.ngs; " he ntten<ls to his Ver. 18.-Pride goeth before destruotion. business, and thinks out the best mode of A maxim continually enforced (see eh. xi. accomplishing his pious, and thereforu 2; xvii. 19; xviii. 12). Here is the contmst succeeds in a worldly souse (comp. oh. xvii. to the blessing on humility promised (eh. 20). Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is xv. 33). A haughty spirit-a lifting up of he; or, hail to him, as in eh. xiv. 21. To spirit-goeth before a fall (comp. Dnn. iv. heed the Word and to trust in the Lord 29, etc.). Thus, according to Herodotus are correlntive things; handling a mlltler (vii. 10), Artabanus warned the arrogant wisely ce.u hardly belong to tlw Sl\lllO Xerxes, "Seest thou how God strikes with category. The Septuagint contrasts thu the thunder nnimals which overtop others, worldly success of one who mone.ges business o.nd suffers tbem not lo vo.unt themselves, wisely and discreetly with tliu blessedness but the small irritate him not? And see.t of him who, wr.en he htis done o.11, eorn- thou how he hurls his bolts nlwnys agninst mits his cause to God o.nd trnsts wholly tu the mightiest buildings uud tho loftiest him: "He who hnth trusted in tlie Lord i~ trees? For God is wont to cut short what- blessed (µa1eap,,n6s)." ever is too highly exulted" (comp. HoracQ, Ver. 21.-The wise in heart shall be • Carm.,' ii. 10. 9, etc.). So.ye the Lo.tin ndo.ge, oalled prudent. True wisdom is rccoguizc,L "Qui petit nltn nimis, retro lapsus pouitur o.nd nckuowledged ns such, especially whcu imis." Cresnr, 'Bell. Gall.,' i. 14, "Consuesso it has the gift of expressing itself nppro- Deos immortales, quo gro.vius homines ex 11riatcly (see on eh. xxiv. S). The sweetness commutatione rerum doleo.nt, quos pro (oh. xxvii. 9) of the lips increaseth learning. sceiere eorum ulcieoi velint, hie eeoundiores People listen to instruction o.t the mouth o( iuterclum re, et diuturniorem impunito.tem one who spenks well and winningly. Such ooucedere." The Chinese suy, " Who flies a one e.ugrueuts knowledge iu otllere, e.u<l 314 THE PROVERBS. [orr. xvi. 1-33.